More Articles

The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

The possibility of hitting a slot-machine jackpot is the foundation on which casinos are built —
the carrot at the end of the stick that keeps gamblers coming back for more.

At Scioto Downs Casino & Racetrack, officials take this seriously. The support pillars that
line the front of the casino are covered with photos of jackpot winners, with the unwritten but
blatantly clear message that you, too, can win $10,767 like William or $9,220 like Timothy — if you
come inside and start playing.

“Marketing jackpots is very important to casinos,” said Alan Silver, an Ohio University
assistant professor of restaurant, hotel and tourism and a former casino executive.

“They present jackpot winners with these large checks and take their pictures and put them up on
the walls,” he said. “It says: ‘Wow, look at all these people who won; I can win one too.’ ”

Scioto Downs and Hollywood Casino Columbus have made jackpots the center of their marketing
campaigns, trumpeting the millions they’ve paid out in advertisements and on billboards, and
posting photos of winners holding oversized checks on the casinos’ Facebook pages.

For those unfamiliar with jackpots, here’s a look at what they are and how they work at the two
major gambling venues in central Ohio:

What is a jackpot?

Whenever someone wins $1,200 or more on a slot machine, it is considered a jackpot.

That isn’t an arbitrary number devised by the casinos. Rather, it’s the legal threshold for
paying taxes, and all jackpot winners must fill out the appropriate forms before they are awarded
their winnings.

Which casino has paid out more jackpots?

Scioto Downs has paid out more in slot-machine jackpots, but more people have won jackpots at
Hollywood Casino during the October-to-April period.Call it a push.At Scioto Downs, 8,223
slot-machine players won $32,549,556 in jackpots, an average of $3,958 per jackpot.At Hollywood
Casino, 11,673 people won $29,598,802, an average of $2,536.Scioto Downs opened in June 2012, and
Hollywood Casino in October.

What’s the biggest jackpot paid?

The biggest slot win at Hollywood Casino was $125,000 and was hit on a $25 Double Gold
machine.

That was the only jackpot of $100,000 or more at Hollywood Casino. Recently, a player won two
$40,000 jackpots in about an hour, said Roger Bryant, director of slots at Hollywood Casino.

Three times, players at Double Diamond Deluxe have won $100,000 at Scioto Downs, and another
player won $99,999.99 on a progressive Double Diamond slot.

What happens when someone wins a jackpot?

Then, the person who just hit the jackpot usually starts yelling and jumping.

“A casino employee comes over to congratulate them, and then a jackpot host comes over and asks
them to sign a release and have their photo taken,” said Troy Buswell, vice president and general
manager of gambling operations at Scioto Downs.

Winners must furnish identification and either fill out a W2 form or have a casino employee do
it for them.

“They have to have a driver’s license or passport or Social Security card,” Bryant said.

How do winners get paid?

In cash or by check, or a combination of the two. It’s up to the winner.

“Most people prefer cash, but with higher amounts, they prefer checks,” Buswell said.

And most people prefer hundred-dollar bills, Bryant said, “but they can request any
denominations, whatever they want.”

Are there jackpots at the table games?

Yes. In Three Card Poker, the jackpot “comes from the progressive bet,” said Tony Carolo,
director of table games at Hollywood Casino.

Players have the option of putting in an additional dollar at the start of each hand to be
eligible for the progressive bet, which grows until someone wins all these accumulating
dollars.

“You need an ace, king and queen of the same suit to win it,” Carolo said of the Three Card
Poker jackpot. The biggest payout has been $12,606, he said.

In craps, there’s a “fire bet” — a side bet of $1 to $5 with a top payout of $5,000, Carolo
said.

Pai Gow Poker has a side bet that can pay up to $25,000.

Are there poker jackpots?

In a sense, there’s a jackpot at the end of each hand, and the amount is determined by how much
the players at the table bet.

Although these pots don’t qualify as jackpots, there is something called the “bad beat hand”
that does. Whenever someone loses a hand with four of a kind or better, it is a considered a bad
beat hand.

The person with the bad beat hand gets 50 percent of the cumulative bad beat pot, the actual
winner of the hand gets 25 percent and the other players at the table split the remaining 25
percent.

The casino takes $1 from each pot that reached $20 to grow the bad beat pot.

There have been three bad beat hands; the payouts were $40,000, $271,000 and $237,000 said Matt
Dodd, Hollywood Casino’s poker-room manager.